Wadi Rum is a large valley in the Jordanian desert renowned for its enormous wind-carved sandstone formations, dunes and ancient petroglyphs. It is also a famous destination for rock climbers and has been continuously inhabited for tens of thousands of years, now settled by a Bedouin community. Our Bedouin guide, Mohammed, took us on a wonderful tour of the dunes, canyons and rock bridges of the area. Wadi Rum is famous for its description in the works of Lawrence of Arabia, who came through during his time assisting the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Turks. The famous film about his life was also shot here.
 |
| The rich red color of the sand in Wadi Rum comes from its high iron content, which is one of the reasons they shot parts of The Martian here. |
 |
| Danielle and Noam enjoying a little tandem sand sledding. |
 |
| Karen admires the vista from the dune. |
 |
| Mohammed describing some ancient petroglyphs in the surface of the sandstone in a sheltered canyon in the rock, shortly before he showed off his truly impressive climbing abilities and did his best to keep all of us from perishing on the slippery rocks. |
 |
| Playing around in a wind-carved arch. |
 |
| I held my ground until I was nearly steamrolled by Adina, because I knew this would make great gif material. |
 |
| Michele, making it look easy (it's not) |
 |
| Hamming it up on the arch |
Awesome!
ReplyDelete